By BEVERLY C. PAOYON
ALABEL, Sarangani (January 29, 2013) – Sarangani will turnover on Wednesday (January 30) a two-sala new regional trial court (RTC) building to the Supreme Court in its bid to sustain speedy disposition of cases.
Chief Justice Maria Lourdes P.A. Sereno will accept the donation from Governor Migs Dominguez.
The new RTC building is adjacent to the existing RTC branch 38 building inside the Capitol compound.
“Now more courts will try cases belonging to the RTC jurisdiction,” provincial legal officer Atty. Arnel Zapatos said. He stressed that cases filed “will be just enough for it to be tried properly.”
The wheels of justice in the province would expectedly turn faster as RTC branches 47 and 48 would ideally handle 500 to 600 cases though it is still subject for approval of the Supreme Court. If allowed, this “would mean that all cases will be tried in a year,” Zapatos said.
In the past 17 or 18 years, Sarangani was only relying on its lone RTC branch 38 where unresolved cases caused by postponements of hearings and new cases that cannot be heard immediately due to previous pending cases have clogged the dockets.
Contrary to the common dilemma on access to justice clamored by poor litigants here, Zapatos stressed that justice being delayed “is not the sole duty of the courts” and can be provided “when institutions work together.”
In 2008, Sarangani rolled out its mobile court under the auspices of Governor Dominguez.
From out of almost 3,000 pending cases when Justice on Wheels in Sarangani (JOWs) started declogging the dockets, at least 705 cases were left today. Three-fourths of these, according to Zapatos, are new cases.
JOWs, a bus turned into a mobile court, is a program under Justice Enhancement and Empowerment Program (JEEP) of the Supreme Court that Sarangani locally implemented starting in 2008.
Sarangani ran JEEP thru its provincial legal office in support of the social justice provision of both the Constitution and RA 7160 in instituting program and projects concerning legal services and the delivery of basic services for its constituents.
The province is the only local government unit in the Philippines which adapted JOWs and the “only LGU that Supreme Court allowed to administer a local JOWs.”
Governor Dominguez received the Galing Pook Award in 2011 with JEEP as banner entry. The Galing Pook Award recognized Sarangani as number one LGU in the whole Philippines in terms of justice intervention.
JOWs, however, is basically a “palliative solution because it can help move cases, but (still) the final solution really is to establish a court with a judge,” Zapatos noted.
It is considered only as a temporary solution to the recurring problem of clogging of cases in the lone RTC. The operation of additional courts for the province is, however, deemed as the permanent solution.
Thru RA 10123, the Supreme Court authorized the creation of five additional RTC branches in Sarangani but only branches 47 and 48 have yet been constructed and be turned over thru a deed of donation to the Chief Justice. (Beverly C. Paoyon/SARANGANI INFORMATION OFFICE)
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